Band Beyond Description - Live at the Crazy Horse

Name: Band Beyond Description - Live at the Crazy Horse
Start: 2026-01-15T21:30:00-08:00
Location: Crazy Horse Saloon & Grill

Schedule

Thu, 15 Jan, 2026 at 09:30 pm

UTC-08:00

Location

Crazy Horse Saloon & Grill | Nevada City, CA

If the Grateful Dead is your religion, then the Crazy Horse is your church when Third Thursday rolls around. Over ten years and rolling, every month Jonny Mojo (Achilles Wheel), Gary Campus (Deadbeats) and Tim High (Tim High & the Mighty) host a cast of the finest musicians from around the region to conjure lightning in a bottle. BBD is a gathering point for everyone who wants to take a leap into the realm of possibility where that Grateful Dead magic still swirls freely. Serving as a gathering point for friends old and new, this event pulses with its own unique flavor. The music that bubbles forth from these nights captures the spontaneous, primal, orgasmic spirit that so many of us crave. This will be a special holiday addition with some out-of-the-box selections to reflect the spirit of the season.
Carrying a humble mystique, Jonny has earned his status as the Obi Wan of the scene. He unfurls piercing, psychedelic paths to the promised land with his incredibly versatile guitar playing and soulful vocal presence. He lives and breathes this music like a fish swimming in the sea. Gary emanates pure joy in every beat and gracefully adapts his style to elevate the strengths of his collaborators. Bringing a jazz sensibility aligned with the heyday of the Dead, he’s been a rhythmic instigator in the region for over 45 years and is more fired up than ever. Nothing makes Tim happier than singing Grateful Dead and JGB songs as is evident by his assertive and heartfelt renditions of the classics as well as obscurities. Like Mickey Mantle switch-hitting, he transmits the fire and brimstone of Bob and the raw emotion of Jerry.
If you’ve been to many BBDs over the years, then you know that one of the most frequently recurring guests has been Murph Murphy on bass. A longtime collaborator of Stu Allen and many other top-notch musicians around the region, he is quite simply the gold standard on the low end. You’ll be hard-pressed to ever get a smile out of him, but rest assured he is glowing inside as he communicates on the same alien frequency Phil occupied while playing the music nearest and dearest to his heart. This will be especially true on this occasion as we are celebrating his birthday! He selected several of the songs for the setlist and obscurity was the name of the game.
The whole theme of the night angles towards the early days of the Dead where they were ladling primal, psychedelic ooze from a bottomless well of creativity. Given that intention, we have recruited one of the top GD guitarists in the west – Matt Hartle (China Cats, Painted Mandolin). This guy is a prankster at heart and has a way of lighting a fire under the rest of the band, pushing everyone in the most radical, collective directions.
We considered going without keys for this one, but after crafting the setlist, realized that would've been doing all of us a disservice to this material. Enter Sam Phelps (Philharmonik, Jelly Bread). Sam has been a frequent BBD guest recently because he's an absolute madman! He nearly burnt the house down last month with his "Fire on the Mountain" solo. Surely a kid who was admonished in school for coloring outside the lines, now he's in the right field to follow the muse wherever she leads. Whether you're Shackleton or just an intrepid sonic traveler of the GD galaxy, Sam's the guy you want by your side when the map gets sucked out the window.